No one with a plush, beautiful lawn wakes up in August and says “Criminy! My lawn is dead! Time to get a lawn care guy pronto”. The same is true for customer service in tech companies. Great customer service & support isn’t necessarily rocket science, but neither is gardening or cooking if you know what you’re doing. Success in those endeavors requires some knowledge, vision, preparation, and small amounts of time invested early and correctly. Continue reading →

I recently asked a customer in our kick-off meeting what their goals for the support team were. The answer:

1. Double productivity
2. Halve the cost
3. Create a “Wow” customer experience

That sounds neat, doesn’t it? Here’s the rub. They want to do this leveraging a virtual support team comprised of independent hourly contractors scattered throughout India, Dubai, etc. because they feel it’s cheaper and aligns with their overall business model.
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When I started Bootstrap Service I did so with the idea that many younger or emerging companies were doing themselves a disservice by not making the right choices and investments in their customer service or support efforts early enough in their evolution. It’s my belief that this approach forces companies to react to customer service activity rather than being proactive and getting prepared, resulting in far less agility and much higher costs in hard dollars, poor service delivery, lower customer satisfaction, and diluted brand value.

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